THE Newhouse family said that it doesn’t expect to get the amount of cost-saving concessions it needs to save the Star-Ledger, the largest daily in New Jersey, and said it will issue notices to all employees later this week saying that the paper will be sold or – failing that – closed on Jan. 5.

Back on July 31, the company said it needed to get 200 people to accept voluntary severance packages at the Star-Ledger and another 25 buyouts at the Trenton Times, plus concessions from the pressmen, mailers and drivers.

While it has reached a tentative pact with mailers and pressmen, the company said negotiations with the drivers have stalled.

“Since it is doubtful that the drivers will ratify an agreement by Oct. 8, 2008, we will be sending formal notices to all employees this week. . . advising [them] that the company will be sold or failing that, that it will close operation on Jan. 5, 2009,” said Star-Ledger Publisher George Arwady.

Despite the bleak assessment, Doug Panattieri, president of the Newspaper and Mailers Delivery Union, which represents the drivers, said talks are continuing. “I see no reason why the partners cannot reach a tentative deal. The NMDU is ready and willing to continue negotiation in good faith.”

The Newhouse family, which owns dozens of newspapers as well as Condé Nast Publications and Parade, had set an Oct. 1 deadline to extract concessions.

Volunteers from the non-unionized newsroom have been lagging although frequently employees don’t make a final decision until closer to deadline.

“Although we are making progress toward two of our three conditions (the Mailers have a ratification vote scheduled for Sept. 22) we still are far from an agreement with the drivers union,” said Arwady.

JPMorgan Chase has been retained to handle a potential sale. An attorney for Teamsters Local 1100 did not return a call seeking comment. The Mailers union declined to comment.

The newsroom has always been non-union and the billionaire family that controls the paper had given lifetime no-layoff guarantees to its reporters and editors so long as the newsroom stayed non-union.

Arwady on July 31 had told stunned employees that the paper was “on life support” and past efforts to cut costs had failed to reverse the losses.

“Despite the best efforts of all of us, the Star-Ledger is losing its battle to survive,” he said at that time.

The paper is the largest in New Jersey, with daily circulation of around 350,000 and Sunday circulation of 520,000. Combined losses at the Star-Ledger and Times are said to be around $40 million.

New chopper

Talk about counter-programming.

Forbes, which sold off two aging helicopters more than a year ago, has finally replaced the smaller one, a four-seater, which used to sit atop the family’s Highlander yacht.

The new American Eurocopter is four years old and was used to replace the 27-year-old Bell Jet Ranger for the Highlander’s excur sions.

The company did not replace the larger Apache type helicopter, which the company brass used to shuttle to corporate meetings around the country. David Diem, the Forbes chopper pilot who was laid off when the old choppers were sold, is now back on board. The new chopper seats 4 plus the pilot and is a little roomier than the one it replaced.

Forbes has been cutting back on the lavish perks it once enjoyed when the company was entirely family-owned. In August 2006, it sold what is believed to be a 40 percent minority stake to Elevation Partners, headed by U2 frontman Bono and Roger McNamee, for between $250 million and $300 million.

$1.3M net

Fresh off her US Open victory, Serena Williams has snagged a $1.3 million advance to write her life story for the Grand Central imprint of Hachette Book Group. Grand Central Publisher Jamie Raab beat out HarperCollins – which already has sister Venus under contract – and Rodale. News Corp. owns HarperCollins and The Post.

The bidders had to agree to a $1 million floor price. Suzanne Gluck, the agent at William Morris, did not return calls seeking comment.

The book is expected to tell how early in their careers, both sisters had to combat racism on the tennis circuit. HarperCollins is believed to have paid only about $150,000 for the Venus Williams book, “The Coach Matters, Life Lessons Beyond the Playing Field,” due out next year.